Recreation
B2C
Bringing College Pride and Lake-Day Energy to Life With a New Shopify Build
Collegiate Waves is a family-owned brand built on the intersection of college athletics, lake life, and time spent on the water with loved ones. Founded by former NCAA student-athletes, the company infuses team spirit, heritage, and leisure culture into bold apparel and accessories that instantly resonate with fans nationwide.
Collegiate Waves is a family-owned brand built on the intersection of college athletics, lake life, and time spent on the water with loved ones. Founded by former NCAA student-athletes, the company infuses team spirit, heritage, and leisure culture into bold apparel and accessories that instantly resonate with fans nationwide.
Scope Summary
The Effort
Shopify Storefront Build
UX/UI Design & Dawn Theme Implementation
Information Architecture & Navigation
Merchandising & Product Organization
Mobile Experience Optimization
Foundational SEO & Email Integration
Case Study Category
Ecommerce Builds
Service Model
Project
i
We offer three flexible service models: On Call, Project, Monthly. See our pricing page for details.
Theme: Dawn
Team Members
Vianca: Project Manager
Aldfrei: UI/UX Designer
Jaybee: Developer
Tech Stack
Figma
Mail Chimp
Launch Context
Collegiate Waves was preparing to launch as a new brand at the intersection of college athletics, lake life, and time on the water. With no existing ecommerce site or established storefront structure, the company needed a Shopify experience that could introduce the brand, organize the product catalog, and translate its lifestyle positioning into a usable shopping experience.
Built To Do More
The project goals centered on creating a new ecommerce foundation that could support both the immediate launch and future growth:
Establish a visually distinctive brand presence on Shopify.
Create personality-rich pages that reflect the college-sports and lake-life positioning.
Provide intuitive navigation and clear product organization.
Support mobile-first usability and straightforward shopping flows.
Implement foundational SEO structure and prepare the store for future marketing activity, including email and social channels.
Experience & Build Strategy
The project began by defining site structure, user flows, and a visual direction for the new lifestyle storefront. Figma layouts were created around bold imagery, lake-life-inspired colors, and a clear hierarchy intended to guide shoppers from discovery toward product exploration and purchase. After design approval, the storefront was implemented on Shopify’s Dawn theme, using the theme as a flexible foundation for the approved navigation, merchandising, mobile, collection, and brand-expression decisions.
Key Build Decisions
Information Architecture & Navigation
Navigation and product organization were structured for clarity so shoppers could move through the new catalog without relying on an existing site structure.
Merchandising & Brand Expression
The storefront used lifestyle-focused imagery and merchandising sections to express the brand’s college-sports and lake-life identity while keeping products central to the experience.
Mobile Experience
Mobile layouts were refined so the new storefront could support on-the-go browsing and shopping across smaller screens.
Foundational SEO & Growth Readiness
The build included foundational SEO structure, organized collections, and launch-ready email integrations so the new store had a cleaner operational base for future marketing activity.
Launch Readiness
The approved source confirms several launch-preparation steps but does not document a formal QA checklist or discrete pre-launch testing protocol. Design direction was approved before implementation, mobile layouts were refined before launch, collections and foundational SEO structure were organized, and email integrations were added as part of launch readiness.
Launch Outcome
Collegiate Waves launched with a new Shopify storefront that translated the brand’s college-sports and lake-life identity into a structured ecommerce experience. The completed build provided clear navigation, organized merchandising, mobile-friendly layouts, and a foundation for future marketing and ecommerce growth without relying on an artificial before/after comparison.
Estimates and Timesheet
Custom Design
Theme Development
Conversion Rate Optimization
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